Best New Travel Apps 2017 – Tel Aviv Edition

I mentioned before how Israel is a home of innovation and has invented some of the best apps like Viber and Waze. While we were there, we got to meet with some startup tech teams (during a whiskey tasting, while epically hungover- in fact, one blogger didn’t make it out that morning!). They gave us their pitch and introduced what could very easily be the best new travel apps in 2017.

Here are some apps that you might want to have on your radar and will most likely see popping up this year in more cities, hopefully YOUR city.

Late night out, 10 am meeting with whiskey tasting = no one trying the whiskey. But the Milk and Honey Distillery was very cool and they gifted me a bottle of gin, which got handed on to Ben’s family since I rarely drink liquor these days.

Best New Travel Apps 2017

Cool Cousin is a really interesting app that I can see taking off fast. So you know when you are on TripAdvisor and someone reviews a restaurant saying “best steak I’ve EVER had” and for all you know it’s a 16-year-old girl who wouldn’t know a good steak from a mediocre one? Well, they want you to find recommendations by first finding a person you relate to, aka a cool cousin. They have cool cousins in the destinations available on their app who are vetted (seriously, and do professional photoshoots to show their style- many are bloggers). You can even message your cool cousin.

You’ve probably heard of Eatwith. I might have even mentioned it on here before. It’s an app to eat dinner at a local’s home while you travel. They have to do “practice” meals first and be good cooks. They have to have a unique home and be cool people. They are also vetted, and you pay them rather than going to a restaurant. There are a lot of new apps like this, but Eatwith was the original and is growing like crazy. You can book by cuisine and read reviews. Some hosts are really popular and are hard to book!

Sidekix fixes an obvious problem, which is that Google walking maps aren’t always the best and lead you in places that aren’t really somewhere you’d want to walk. If you have to go from point A to point B and there are multiple routes, this app tells you what’s on each one. Maybe route 1 passes a few shops you want to check out, maybe route 2 goes by a scenic bridge. They actually used my post best boutiques in Istanbul where I manually mapped them out as an example. As local bloggers add their recommendations, this will end up being very cool! Each recommendation is in a set and put up by someone who is vetted to have good judgment in that area. It’s only on iPhone for now.

Since I heard about Givingway, I have already sent it to readers who want to volunteer when they travel. I am so weary of voluntourism and it’s negative effects on the people, plus the money grabbing companies who make you pay to volunteer and never give that money to the ones who need it! Want to volunteer and NOT pay an agent? Givingway is the answer, with reviews TripAdvisor-style from people who have volunteered at places before. You DO sometimes have to pay the place you are staying for accommodation, etc, but read reviews to make sure it’s legit. I do not know the vetting process for who can get listed on Givingway.

Interviewed by Tel Aviv newspaper

While in Tel Aviv, a newspaper wanted to do an article on the “influencers” (as they called us) that were in town. They wanted photos of us on our phones hence the photos below. The article came out if you’re interested. You can use the translate option to read it since it’s in Hebrew. I hope that you like these new travel apps for 2017 and let’s see if they take off! If they do you can say you knew about it first ;)

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Rachel Jones left a career in nursing and lived on the beaches of Goa, India for the five years. Now she lives in Mexico where she gives advice on the 40+ countries she’s visited in the last 10 years. She’s the author of two India travel e-books: Guide to India and Insider’s Guide to Goa. Her blog, Hippie in Heels, like its name, is a contradiction combining off-beat adventurous places with glamorous and bespoke travel. Hippie in Heels has been featured in ELLE, Marie Claire, Grazia, and Cosmopolitan magazines. She’s a writer for Bravo TV.

3 Comments

Thanks for the recommendations Rachel – Givingway and Eatwith look great! Just thinking about the apps I use when abroad and I’d highly recommend an app called Postsnap – it’s basically a postcard sending app, there are a few around but this is the best postcard app I’ve found. I quite often use it to send real postcards using my own holiday photos from my phone when I’m on-the-go and the family loved the fact that they got a real physical postcard before I even arrive home! You can even hand write a personal message (if you have an Apple Pencil) and it’s quite a nice touch to send something real whilst on my travels. Just thought I’d mention it, might be worth taking a look! – Search postsnap app or https://www.postsnap.com